In the heat of the moment it happens. A quiet discussion erupts into a torrent of ideas and agreement. Later you would swear that a breeze of fresh air swept through the room. The rush from the moment can propel a group for days, weeks, or months. We had that moment. It was euphoric. It propelled us through several long meetings. Then, as quickly as the moment occurred, it was gone. What remained was tears, frustration, and questions. Let me explain.
I teach math in a seventh & eighth grade middle school. Given the current economic climate, our school was faced with changing the way we educate our students. Gone are the days of interdisciplinary teaming and common planning. The status quo gave way to lightening fast change. Filling the void is a leadership group charged with fusing the ideas from Response to Intervention (RTI) with Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) into a social house structure.
We began with a Seth Godin book study: Tribes. Every member of our leadership team was provided a copy. We read it on our own time, but we each bought into the principles: we would each lead, we would each become a heretic. Our goal was to build a structure that would support the emotional needs of our students, provide them with a "tribe" they could identify with. Give them a sense of belonging. That's when it happened...our moment of synergy.
Our meetings were informal, a shared meal in one of our homes. They started in the afternoon and went long into the night. We were sitting around a living room brainstorming ways to honor the work of a team that had practiced a "house" system for years. We started with "Chinook Nation." It would describe all students & staff in our school (our school is named after the Chinook Nation in southwest Washington). Next we decided to call each group (house) of students "Clans." Each advisory would be called a "House." We'd have four clans and we'd each lead a clan of teachers and students. This was our moment. Synergy. From here the structure of our system was assembled in what seemed like minutes. What was left were the details. As one of our leaders would later say, "I feel like when we named ourselves Nation-Clan-House that was the title to our narrative. It was the beginning of our story, a story based in passionate belief that we are all connected to create an amazing Chinook Nation."
With a few simple strokes of a keyboard, our synergy was taken from us.
At our next gathering, a "fill in the details" meeting, we had no energy. It had vanished with a letter home to staff. The naming of our structure, our moment of synergy, was voided when we learned "Clans" had been changed to "Lodges" without our input. Were we naive to think that "Clans" or "Tribes" would pass the administrative/parental sniff test? Perhaps. What hurt was the absence of a discussion. It brought out tears. It evoked enough emotion that after an hour of discussion we were paralyzed as a group. It was awful.
The Model
There is more to this story than hurt feelings. We actually built something meaningful. In lieu of teams, the house system would serve as the identifying feature for every student in our school. As advisors, we would loop with our students for two years. We would provide them a place to belong (the Clan, Tribe, or Lodge). As their advisor, we would provide opportunities to grow socially, work with students to assign enrichment or intervention opportunities, and learn of discipline infractions. We would plan quarterly activities within each house, challenge other advisors during spirit assemblies, and positively reinforce behaviors by awarding house points. We planned climate building activities like in-school and evening socials, lock-ins, Identity Day, and Winter Wishes. We would support teachers with ideas for class-building and team-building activities and offer ongoing professional development throughout the school year. The plan was ambitious, but as leaders, so were we. We were prepared to battle the naysayers. Prepared to lead our houses, whatever we would be called. Our model represents a seismic shift away from rewards & punishment. Instead of coersion and conformity, we would celebrate each student's uniqueness. It has a much more organic feel to it. It focuses on kids, not discipline.
At the end of the day, however, we are human. We allow our emotions to lead us. We rode a wave of momentum and created a structure to be proud of. It is unfortunate that we allowed bureaucracy to derail us. We are leaders. We signed up for this gig. We will undoubtedly pick up the pieces and move on. It is what we do. We will lead again. The next time our clan will include students and staff and the stakes will be even higher. We need to nail it...again!
